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Music

Kirtan Rabbi spins into southern California

People twirl ecstatically, eyes closed, repeating, in a call-and-response fashion, chants led by Rabbi Andrew Hahn, who plays a harmonium while others play guitars and percussion instruments — repetitive, hypnotic sounds that seductively nudge the crowd, young and old alike, to sway and swirl and chant.

Neither rain nor snow keeps Jewlicious from its appointed sounds

Matisyahu performs every year at Jewlicious, the three-day Jewish learning and music weekend that takes place at the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach and this year drew some 900 college students and young professionals. A friend to JConnect, which organizes the event with Beach Hillel, the Chassidic reggae star has a habit of drawing his audience into his feverish musical frenzy. He did so again this year, but this time, due to snow, he was stuck in a hotel in Canada, while his guitarist was on stage at the Long Beach JCC. Didn’t matter — he Skyped in his performance.

1,500 raise voices in song to remember Debbie Friedman

As the piano struck the first notes of Debbie Friedman’s “Elohai N’Shama,” Cantor Linda Kates paused before the approximately 1,500 people gathered in the sanctuary at Valley Beth Shalom (VBS) and recalled a story about how the late singer-songwriter energized a crowd of Jewish students while teaching them the song.

‘Zorba’ composer declares himself an anti-Semite

Mikis Theodorakis, the Greek composer who wrote the music for the film \”Zorba the Greek,\” said in a television interview that he is an \”anti-Semite and anti-Zionist.\” Theodorakis, 86, a hero in Greece, also said in the interview on Greece\’s High channel that \”everything that happens today in the world has to do with the Zionists.\” He added that \”American Jews are behind the world economic crisis that has hit Greece also.\”

The power of performance

Matisyahu turned 30 a year and a half ago, prompting a good deal of self-reflection.

German iTunes removes Nazi anthem

Apple removed the anthem of the Nazi Party from the German iTunes online music store. The company on Wednesday removed the German marching song \”Horst Wessel Lied,\” the unofficial Nazi anthem, which was banned in Germany after World War II. It removed the song after the German newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported that it was available for sale online.

Ethan Bortnick: Child prodigy, entertainer, mega-fundraiser

Ethan Bortnick was just 6 when he first appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” playing snippets of piano works by Bach, Mozart and Scott Joplin. He even performed his own composition, “The Tiger Ran Away at the Zoo.” By that age, he had already raised $12 million for Miami Children’s Hospital. Since then, he has performed for the Chabad Telethon and the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, among other charities.

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